Music that heals: Texas Children's Hospital cancer patients send a message of hope through song

Music that heals: Texas Children's Hospital cancer patients send a message of hope through song

The song "It's Out There Waiting" is the culmination of a beautiful collaboration between Purple Songs Can Fly, ZapBoomBang Studios and producer Andres Levin, alongside a soulful cast of singers and instrumentalists.
Photo courtesy of ZapBoomBang Studios

Digital sales will directly fuel the efforts of Kruse and her troupe to continue to offer music as a medium to enhance the healing environment of patients at Texas Children's Hospital.
Photo by Joel Luks

The song is dedicated to Jesus Jacobo-Alvarez, a 5-year-old boy who lost his battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia this year.
Courtesy of ZapBoomBang Studios

For the many young people who routinely undergo treatment at Texas Children's Hospital & Hematology Centers, therapy room windows that look onto the vastness of Houston reveal more than a city whose medical complex saves countless lives. They see more than clouds, birds, sunsets and the wind.

The windows suggest the possibility of what exists outside the confines of their illnesses: Their hopes and dreams for a full, strong, healthy life and a future that's as bright as the big Texas sun.

The song "It's Out There Waiting" is the culmination of a beautiful collaboration between Purple Songs Can Fly, a program crafted by singer/songwriter Anita Kruse that offers a musical outlet for children to express their thoughts and feelings through song; ZapBoomBang Studios, a multimedia facility founded by Alex and Cathy López Negrete; and Grammy-winning producer Andres Levin, alongside a soulful cast of singers and instrumentalists.

Cancer patients who have received treatment at the renowned children's hospital were involved in coming up with the words for the song and sing in the chorus.

When ZapBoomBang launched its studios, general manager Patricia Torres-Burd sought for ways to suffuse its walls with good karma — because a studio has a soul, she says.

Digital sales will directly fuel the efforts of Kruse and her troupe to continue to offer music as a medium to enhance the healing environment of patients.

"We invited Purple Songs Can Fly to bring the children's song to us to be recorded at ZapBoomBang, with proceeds going directly back to Purple Songs Can Fly," Torres-Burd said in a statement. "We are so very excited and appreciative for Andre Levin's generosity and talent, as well as that of the many other talented performers who have so selflessly given of themselves to this cause."

On Levin's musical team were Latin musician Gustavo Galindo, blues/country singer Marsha Hancock, guitarist David Garza of Austin, composer/arranger Stephen Barber, drummer Brannen Temple of Austin and vocalist Suzanna Choffel, who was a noted contestant at the 2012 International Songwriting Competition headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. Together they wrote the lyrics, composed the music, taped a video and recorded "It's Out There Waiting" in 48 hours.

The newly released single and video are available separately on iTunes for 99 cents and $1.99 respectively. Digital sales will directly fuel the efforts of Kruse and her troupe to continue to offer music as a medium to enhance the healing environment of patients at Texas Children's Hospital.

As the song says, it's to keep "the light shining" on the kids.

The song is dedicated to Jesus Jacobo-Alvarez, a 5-year-old boy who lost his battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia this year.

Watch the video (above) for a making-of video vignette. Listen to a brief excerpt of "It's Out There Waiting" by clicking on the media player in the middle of the page.

The song "It's Out There Waiting" is the culmination of a beautiful collaboration between Purple Songs Can Fly, ZapBoomBang Studios and producer Andres Levin, alongside a soulful cast of singers and instrumentalists.
Photo courtesy of ZapBoomBang Studios

Digital sales will directly fuel the efforts of Kruse and her troupe to continue to offer music as a medium to enhance the healing environment of patients at Texas Children's Hospital.
Photo by Joel Luks

The song is dedicated to Jesus Jacobo-Alvarez, a 5-year-old boy who lost his battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia this year.
Courtesy of ZapBoomBang Studios